Artist Profile: George Gittoes

George Gittoes, an Australian filmmaker, premiered his new documentary, Love City, a documentary about violence in the Middle East last Monday night. Love City will be released theatrically in November. Gittoes, who has produced several films about war and hardship, was the first guest at the Film & Art Forum–a weekly class at Montclair State run by film industry veteran, Roberta Friedman.

Gittoes says the documentary will be released to the general public next month. Gittoes is an artist who works on the frontline of war and has traveled to many places throughout North America, South America and the Middle East. While specifically working in the Middle East, Gittoes has produced and directed many films of war and hardship. The documentary Love City captures the ongoing attacks that occur daily throughout the Middle East. It encompasses the struggles women have to face on a regular basis, as well as the general public trying to get by and tread softly without getting killed by bombers and predators. In the Middle East, it is forbidden for women to be seen on-camera. There was a particular scene in the documentary that showed a few women acting out a scene for a movie in public for one of Gittoes films. As they shot the scene for the upcoming film, people started spitting on them and attempted to attack them. As Gittoes, the talent and crew rushed to the car, a crowd of men began groping the female actors and made derogatory remarks.

Gittoes also discussed his 1995 visit to Rwanda where countless people were slaughtered and brutally murdered. He photographed the badly wounded victims and later made drawings of them. The photos are very graphic. Some of the photos featured the victims’ burial grounds, followed by stabbed/slashed faces. The killers used machetes, which left victims with missing body parts.

Gittoes says he plans on visiting Afghanistan in another month or so and wants to make more movies.

He’s worked on films such as The Miscreants of Taliwood, Rampage, Soundtrack to War and Bullets of the Poets.